Job shadowing/trying to get into Vet med

[Ozzysmomma]

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Hi there,
I have always had a passion for animals and an interest in Veterinary medicine. Over the last decade, I have obtained two college diplomas (one in Law and Security, the other in Culinary Arts). The kitchen has equipped me with a universe of life experience. In highschool I did not feel capable of obtaining the required math and science, thus not pursuing veterinary medicine. As an unconventional adult student, I now feel ready to take the challenge head on. I would love to find a vet to shadow, however, I feel as though it would seem strange to them as I am a 30 year old. Is 30 too old to be taken seriously as a pre-vet? Also does anyone know how important your field of undergrad is? I have an interest in animal behaviour but am willing to take whatever is required.
Thank you for taking the time to read and respond to this!

 

[deleted955210]

30 is not too old. I started shadowing at 29. I'm not at vet school yet, but a lot of the other vet students I've met told me some other students are well into their 30s and 40s. There's even a 50 year old. As long as you get all of your prerequisites done, it doesn't really matter what your degree is in. However, it is a good idea to confirm this with the vet school.

 

[deleted676737]

I feel as though it would seem strange to them as I am a 30 year old. Is 30 too old to be taken seriously as a pre-vet?!

Absolutely not. My vet school class included students in a wide range of ages, at least a good handful of whom were at least your age if not older. 30 years old is not too old to purse vet med at all.

I would definitely recommend that you start shadowing a vet ASAP before making the decision to spend lots of time and money to take your pre-reqs. Vet school itself is ridiculously expensive, even without factoring undergrad costs on top. Financially, vet med is too risky a field to simply jump into without actually having some experience under your belt to help you make an informed decision as to whether or not it's something that you're seriously 100% interested in pursuing. Plus, you'll need a good chunk of experience hours once it comes time for you to apply, so the earlier you start the better.

Also does anyone know how important your field of undergrad is? I have an interest in animal behaviour but am willing to take whatever is required.

You can major in whatever you'd like as long as you take the pre-reqs (these vary by school; I'd dig around on the websites of vet schools that you may potentially be interested in applying to down the line). Most pre-vets will do something along the lines of biology, animal science, or chemistry, just because there tends to be a lot of overlap between the pre-reqs and the degree requirements for those majors, but you could theoretically major in theatre and still make it into vet school so long as you take the pre-reqs and do well. I would actually recommend that you pick a major that would help you get work in a field that you would feel all right working in should vet school not work out for whatever reason, be that animal behavior, English, political science, microbiology... whatever, really.

Though, honestly, if you haven't already, I'd poke around these boards a bit and look into just what you'll be dealing with student loan wise should you decide to go to vet school. You didn't mention if you have prior debt from your previous degrees, but if you do, tread very, very, very carefully. It's not uncommon these days for vet students to graduate with $200,000 in debt, if not more, from vet school on its own (so that doesn't even include undergrad costs).

 

[futurevet_11]

Multiple vets that I have worked with have chosen vet med as their second career and went to vet school in their early to mid thirties.